JP4208133B2 - Imaging control method, apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus control method and apparatus for controlling operations of an imaging apparatus such as a plurality of cameras connected via a network such as a wireless LAN, and a program for causing a computer to execute the imaging apparatus control method. It is.

There has been proposed a remote camera system that allows a camera installed in a remote place to be viewed via a network. In such a remote camera system, not only can a camera image be viewed, but also the camera direction and zoom magnification can be operated from a remote location. In such a remote camera system, a method of controlling the operations of a plurality of cameras from one camera has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-113166 A

  By the way, it is also possible to apply the remote camera system to a digital camera. Specifically, when each of a plurality of users has a digital camera, when one user takes a picture using the digital camera, the other user's digital camera also takes pictures simultaneously or continuously. It is also possible to do this. As described above, by operating a plurality of digital cameras in cooperation with each other, it becomes possible to simultaneously photograph one subject from various angles, and the enjoyment of photographing can be expanded.

  However, when one user takes a picture, the other users are not always focused on the picture, and the subject does not have a digital camera or is taking a picture of another subject. There is. In this case, there is a possibility that the digital camera cannot take a picture, or even if it can take a picture, a completely different subject is shot.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make a user of an imaging apparatus surely perform shooting in a remote camera system using an imaging apparatus such as a plurality of digital cameras.

An imaging apparatus control method according to the present invention is an imaging apparatus control method for operating a plurality of imaging apparatuses in cooperation with each other via a network.
When making the plurality of imaging devices perform a shooting operation, shooting notification information for sending a shooting notification to a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices is transmitted.

  The “imaging device” is mounted not only on a digital camera dedicated to photographing that captures digital image data representing a subject image by photographing the subject, but also on a portable terminal device having a communication function such as a mobile phone or a PDA. Including digital cameras.

  The “shooting notification information” is information that can notify a user who has another imaging apparatus that shooting is to be performed. Specifically, other imaging devices are allowed to perform various shooting notifications such as beep, chime, human voice, etc., display of characters on the monitor of the imaging device, change of display color, vibration, etc. Is possible information. Preferably, it may include information for instructing a shooting angle or a subject.

  “A desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices” may be all of the plurality of imaging devices or may be at least one imaging device selected from the plurality of imaging devices.

  In the imaging apparatus control method according to the present invention, the imaging notification information may be transmitted from one of the plurality of imaging apparatuses.

  In this case, the transmission of the shooting notification information may be performed based on a shooting operation in the one imaging device.

  Specifically, it is preferable to transmit the shooting notification information by half-pressing the shutter button, but a dedicated button for transmitting the shooting notification information is provided in one imaging device, and this button is pressed. The shooting notification information may be transmitted.

An imaging apparatus control apparatus according to the present invention is an imaging apparatus control apparatus that operates a plurality of imaging apparatuses in cooperation with each other via a network.
A shooting notification means for transmitting shooting notification information that causes a desired imaging device of the plurality of imaging devices to perform shooting notification when the plurality of imaging devices perform a shooting operation is provided. It is.

  The imaging device control device according to the present invention may be provided in one imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices.

  In this case, the transmission of the shooting notification information may be performed based on a shooting operation in the one imaging device.

  The imaging apparatus control method according to the present invention may be provided as a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of imaging devices perform a shooting operation, shooting notification information is transmitted to a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices. For this reason, by performing shooting notification based on shooting notification information by a plurality of imaging devices, the user of the imaging device can know in advance that shooting will be performed from now on, so that the imaging device is directed toward the subject. Operation such as holding can be performed. Therefore, it is possible to cause the users of a plurality of imaging devices to reliably perform shooting.

  Further, by transmitting the shooting notification information from one of the plurality of imaging devices, the subject that one imaging device is about to shoot is surely shot using the other imaging device. Can be made.

  Further, by transmitting the shooting notification information based on the shooting operation in one imaging device, it is possible to notify the user of another imaging device that shooting is to be performed without performing a special operation.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a remote camera system using an imaging apparatus control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the remote camera system according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of (here, four) digital cameras 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and a camera server 2 connected by a network 3, and the digital cameras 1A to 1 The image data acquired in 1D is transmitted to the camera server 2, and the camera server 2 stores and manages the image data. In the present embodiment, the network 3 uses a wireless LAN. However, any network may be used as long as the digital cameras 1A to 1D can be remotely controlled.

  In the present embodiment, when the digital camera 1A is set as a master camera and the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D are set as slave cameras and a shooting operation is performed in the digital camera 1A, at the same time, shooting is performed in the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. It is assumed that the operations of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, 1D are controlled so as to be performed.

  Note that the digital camera 1A set as the master camera can perform shooting independently without causing the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D to perform shooting. Also, the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D set as slave cameras can perform shooting independently without receiving a shooting instruction from the digital camera 1A. Here, the image data acquired by each of the digital cameras 1A to 1D taking a picture may be transmitted to the camera server 2, but may be stored in a memory card of each of the digital cameras 1A to 1D. .

  FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view showing the configuration of the digital camera 1A. Since the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D have the same configuration as the digital camera 1A, description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 2, the digital camera 1 </ b> A has a monitor 11 that performs various displays such as images and menus to be photographed, a shutter button 12, a wireless LAN chip 13 that performs wireless LAN communication, and various inputs. The input unit 14 includes a cross key 14 </ b> A for performing, and a speaker 15 for outputting sound. The digital camera 1A includes a shooting notification means 16 that transmits shooting notification information to the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D when the shutter button 12 is half-pressed.

  On the monitor 11, both an image that the digital camera 1 </ b> A itself is to shoot and an image that the digital cameras 1 </ b> B, 1 </ b> C, and 1 </ b> D are to shoot are displayed. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image displayed on the monitor 11. As shown in FIG. 3, the monitor 11 includes a window 11A for displaying an image to be photographed by the digital camera 1A and windows 11B, 11C, and 11D for displaying an image to be photographed by the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. Is displayed. As shown in FIG. 3, since the window 11A is an image to be taken by the digital camera 1A, the window 11A is larger than the other windows 11B, 11C, and 11D.

  Here, since the other windows 11B, 11C, and 11D are smaller in size than the window 11A, the displayed image may be difficult to see. Therefore, only the central portion of the image to be photographed may be displayed on the windows 11B, 11C, and 11D. Further, the windows 11B, 11C, 11D selected by the input means 14 may be enlarged and displayed on the monitor 11.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the screen of the monitor 11 may be simply divided according to the number of digital cameras, and images to be taken by the digital cameras 1A to 1D may be displayed.

  The shutter button 12 performs focusing and photometry by a half-press operation, and performs shooting by driving the shutter by a full-press operation. Here, in this embodiment, the shooting notification means 16 is driven by the half-pressing operation of the shutter button 12, and shooting notification information is sent from the wireless LAN chip 13 to the digital cameras 1 B, 1 C, 1 D via the network 3. Sent. The shooting notification information is information for notifying the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D that shooting will be performed from now on. The digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D are based on the shooting notification information. Send a shooting notification to the user.

  Specifically, the notification of shooting may be performed by outputting a chime sound, a beep sound, “I will shoot”, and “Please hold the camera” from the speaker 15 of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, a message such as “I will shoot” or “Please hold the camera” may be displayed on the monitor 11 of the digital camera 1B, 1C, or 1D to notify the shooting. Shooting notification may be performed in combination with voice. Furthermore, the imaging notification may be performed by blinking the monitor 11 itself, inverting the display color of the monitor 11, or vibrating the camera itself.

Further, after the shooting notification information is transmitted, an operation instruction from the digital camera 1A may be displayed on the monitors 11 of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. Specifically, an operation instruction is displayed as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, a window (in this case, an image of the digital camera 1B is displayed) on which an image of the digital camera that the user of the digital camera 1A instructs using the input means 14 on the monitor 11 is displayed. Selected window 11B). The frame color of the window 11B selected by the user is changed. Then, when the user uses the input unit 14 to press a key indicating the right side of the cross key 14A, for example, information indicating that is transmitted to the digital camera 1B. Based on the information, the digital camera 1B determines that the camera should be turned to the right, and displays a message “Please copy right” on the monitor 11 as shown in FIG. 6B. As shown in Fig. 7, the standard text messages such as “OK”, “Thank you”, “5 seconds before shooting”, “Yes! (Not shown), a fixed sentence is displayed on the monitor 11 to select a number, and a text file representing the fixed sentence corresponding to the selected number is included in the shooting notification information, and the digital cameras 1B, 1C, 1D May be sent to. Thereby, the fixed sentence selected in the digital camera 1A is displayed on the monitor 11 on the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D.

  Then, after the shooting notification is made in this way, the shutter release button 12 of the digital camera 1A is fully pressed, so that shooting is performed in the digital camera 1A and shooting is also performed simultaneously in the digital cameras 1B, 1C, 1D. . Note that the shooting timing may be not only simultaneous but also delayed for a certain time so that the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D sequentially perform shooting.

  The wireless LAN chip 13 is for performing communication via the network 3 by a wireless LAN, and includes a memory for storing authentication information necessary for communication, a communication interface, and the like.

  The camera server 2 is for storing and managing image data acquired in the digital cameras 1A to 1D, and includes a large-capacity hard disk. That is, when the digital camera 1A performs shooting, shooting is performed in the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D, and four image data are acquired simultaneously in each of the digital cameras 1A to 1D. The image data is transmitted to the camera server 2 from where the image data is stored.

  The camera server 2 manages the models of the digital cameras 1A to 1D that are remotely operated, the ID for identifying the camera, and information on whether the camera is a master camera or a slave camera. In the present embodiment, four image data are transmitted to the camera server 2 by one shooting, but the camera server 2 assigns a file name to the image data and stores the image data so as not to overlap. In addition, the file name is managed so that it can be understood in which digital camera 1A to 1D the image data to be stored is acquired.

  Next, processing performed in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing performed in the present embodiment. First, it is monitored by the digital camera 1A, which is a master camera, whether or not the shutter button 12 has been half-pressed (step S1). If step S1 is affirmed, the shooting notification information is sent by the shooting notification means 16 to the digital camera. It is transmitted to 1B, 1C, 1D (step S2). Next, shooting notification information is received by the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D (step S3), and shooting notification is performed based on this information (step S4).

  Subsequently, it is monitored whether or not the shutter button 12 has been fully pressed by the digital camera 1A (step S5). When step S5 is affirmed, the digital camera 1A performs shooting (step S6). The acquired image data is transmitted to the camera server 2 (step S7). At the same time, photographing is performed by the other digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D (step S8), and the image data acquired by the photographing is transmitted to the camera server 2 (step S9), and the process ends.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the shooting notification is performed when the shooting operation of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D is performed from the digital camera 1A, the user of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D is now in the future. You can know in advance that shooting will take place. Accordingly, it is possible to perform an operation such as holding the camera toward the subject, and thus, it is possible to cause the users of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D to reliably perform shooting.

  Further, by transmitting the shooting notification information based on the half-pressing operation of the shutter button 12 in the digital camera 1A, the user of the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D is notified that shooting is performed without performing any special operation. be able to.

  In the above-described embodiment, the image data acquired by the digital cameras 1A to 1D is stored in the camera server 2, but it is acquired by the digital camera 1A as a master camera without providing the camera server 2. The obtained image data and the image data acquired by the other digital cameras 1B, 1C, 1D may be stored. In this case, image data is directly transmitted from the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D to the digital camera 1A. Note that image data may be stored directly in any one slave camera by directly transmitting the image data from the other slave camera and the digital camera 1A that is the master camera. In this case, the communication between the digital cameras 1A to 1D may use a peer-to-peer communication method in which data is directly exchanged between the digital cameras 1A to 1D as shown in FIG. In the peer-to-peer communication method, data transfer between the digital cameras 1A to 1D is performed by directly transferring information packets from a digital camera that transmits data to a digital camera that is a transmission destination.

  In the above embodiment, the relationship between the master camera and the slave camera may be arbitrarily switched in each of the digital cameras 1A to 1D.

  In the above embodiment, the shooting notification information is transmitted by half-pressing the shutter button 12. However, a dedicated button for transmitting the shooting notification information is provided on the input means 14, and this button is used. The shooting notification information may be transmitted by pressing the button. Further, a menu for causing the monitor 11 to transmit the shooting notification information may be displayed, and the shooting notification information may be transmitted based on the menu.

  In the above embodiment, the shooting notification information is transmitted from the digital camera 1A to the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. However, the digital camera 1A selects a desired digital camera from the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D. The shooting notification information may be transmitted only to the selected digital camera. Specifically, the digital cameras 1B, 1C, and 1D that transmit the shooting notification information may be selected by selecting the windows 11B, 11C, and 11D displayed on the monitor 11 using the input unit 14.

  In the above embodiment, the remote camera system using the digital cameras 1A to 1D has been described. However, the remote camera system can also be configured using a mobile terminal device with a camera such as a mobile phone or a PDA. It is. In this case, a system in which a portable terminal device with a camera and a digital camera are mixed may be used. Unlike the digital cameras 1A to 1D, the camera-equipped mobile terminal device is not provided with a dedicated button for performing various operations for shooting including a dedicated shutter button and a button for transmitting shooting notification information. The operation buttons of the portable terminal device also serve as buttons for performing various operations for photographing.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a remote camera system using an imaging apparatus control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Rear perspective view showing the configuration of the digital camera The figure which shows the picture which is displayed on the monitor The figure which shows the screen of the monitor divided according to the number of digital cameras Figure showing the message displayed on the monitor The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement when an operation instruction is performed A figure showing the message text A flowchart showing processing performed in the present embodiment Diagram for explaining peer-to-peer communication method

Explanation of symbols

1A to 1D Digital camera 2 Camera server 3 Network 11 Monitor 12 Shutter button 13 Wireless LAN chip 14 Input means 15 Speaker 16 Shooting notification means

Claims (9)

In the imaging control method of one imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices that operate in cooperation with a plurality of imaging devices via a network,
An imaging control method characterized by transmitting imaging notification information for performing imaging notification to a desired imaging apparatus among the plurality of imaging apparatuses when causing the plurality of imaging apparatuses to perform an imaging operation. The imaging control method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving and storing image data captured by a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices. The imaging control method according to claim 2, wherein the imaging notification information is transmitted based on an imaging operation of the one imaging apparatus. In one imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices that operate in cooperation with a plurality of imaging devices via a network,
An imaging device comprising imaging notification means for transmitting imaging notification information for performing imaging notification to a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices when the plurality of imaging devices perform an imaging operation. apparatus. 5. The imaging device according to claim 4, further comprising receiving and storing image data captured by a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the imaging notification information is transmitted based on an imaging operation in the one imaging apparatus. In a program installed in one imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices that operate in cooperation with a plurality of imaging devices via a network ,
A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting shooting notification information for performing shooting notification to a desired imaging device among the plurality of imaging devices when causing the plurality of imaging devices to perform a shooting operation. Furthermore, the program of Claim 7 which performs the procedure which receives and stores the image data imaged with the imaging device made into desired among these imaging devices .   The program according to claim 8, wherein the procedure of transmitting the shooting notification information is a procedure of transmitting the shooting notification information based on a shooting operation in the one imaging apparatus.

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